To many Americans the image of Hanoi persists as the bombed-out capital of communist North Vietnam where Ho Chi Minh and his comrades plotted the defeat of US forces in the Vietnam War, which ended 27 years ago. But the one-time French colonial city in which President Clinton arrived yesterday has been transformed since the days when bombs rained down, on the orders of his predecessors Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.
The first signs he saw on the airport road were advertisements for Toyota, Hyundai, and Suzuki, while in the city centre, alongside the US and Vietnamese flags outside his hotel, were Christmas trees decorated with fairy lights and models of Santa Claus and reindeers.
Hanoi today is a city where passions run high - not over ideology but football. Indeed, the excitement over Mr Clinton's arrival was matched by the drama played out on televisions in shops and cafes, as the national soccer team fell to a shock 3-2 defeat by Indonesia in the regional Tiger Cup.
Many of Hanoi's residents were born long after the war ended, and many speak openly of their longing for friendship with America, which they equate with economic reforms and greater prosperity. This helps explain the celebrity welcome given to Senator-elect Hillary Clinton when she arrived several hours before her husband and went for a walk in a city street.
The US First Lady had travelled earlier from Israel where she had been attending the funeral of Leah Rabin, widow of assassinated Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Mr Clinton and his daughter Chelsea arrived from Brunei, where he had been attending a summit of the 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation. Having dropped her baggage in the Daewoo Hotel, one of a number of first-class hotels that have been built in the city, Mrs Clinton was driven to visit an exhibition of paintings, "Through Children's Eyes", at the Friends Gallery in a city centre street.
The exhibition is designed to bring international attention to the hundreds of accidents caused each year in Vietnam by landmines and unexploded ordnance. The First Lady then toured a shopping street, attracting hundreds of excited onlookers behind lines of police and US Secret Servicemen. They cheered and screamed when she waved.
"I am delighted to be here," she told reporters. "I am very excited about our trip here. I feel very good about the wonderful reaction."
Today the US President will meet Vietnam's Communist President Tran Duc Luong, and make a speech at the National University that will be televised live - the first time a foreign leader has been given such access to the Vietnamese people.
Mr Clinton is the first serving US president to visit Vietnam since Richard Nixon made a brief trip to the then US-backed South Vietnam with his wife at the height of the war in 1969.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia said he plans to visit Vietnam in the first half of next year, Interfax news agency reported yesterday